Four. You can check my application profile in my list of posts. I'm just getting anxious (probably from checking this site and GC) and I guess having a backup is somewhat comforting. I'm not particularly superstitious so I'm not afraid of, like, jinxing anything by discussing alternative paths.

I've seen TA or lab assistant jobs and some academic content development gigs. It's hard to know what I'm qualified for half of the time. I'll probably just apply to a ton of jobs if things don't work out. It's just hard being in limbo, and I guess I'm interested to see what people would do if they couldn't do math-school.

Legendre wrote:I think the best thing to do is to get more research experience and possibly a published paper.

I agree, but how do you do that? Who do you conduct research with?

Do you have a master's? If not, would it be possible for you to do it in your undergrad department? In this case I would consider taking a thesis topic and work it during the summer, and take as much grad courses next year as possible, and try to get TA-ships from your department. If you have a master's, then try to ask your advisor if you can get involved in some projects for the summer and possibly for the upcoming year, and continue taking more grad courses. It is very common for math departments to offer summer internships to either work on your thesis or to get involved with an ongoing project. Not all of them are publicly announced, so most likely you will have to ask around in your department to know about them.

P.S.I think just applying to 4 places is very risky. You could be totally qualified or even over qualified but there are other factors like whether the department took in too many last year, had funding cut, or is changing research direction and want students in a field you are not in etc.

I'm doing my plan B right now, applying for Biostats programs. A mediocre applicant in pure math (with standard undergrad preparation of core courses and pretty high gpa) could be competitive in top-tier Stats/Biostats programs. Of course this requires potentially bending your interests a little bit, but I think it has more mathematical flavor than switching to CS or getting a job in an unrelated field. Personally I was more interested in the Statistics side from the beginning, so it was rather easy for me... Good luck!

So far, I've only one acceptance which I'm torn about since it means moving away from family/dependents. My plan B is to try to get a job, do some private tutoring, and spend more time on some non-math interests. Plan B is a realistic option, but I want to take it only after I'm sure that I've exhausted all my resources to continue studying Math.

quark wrote:So far, I've only one acceptance which I'm torn about since it means moving away from family/dependents. My plan B is to try to get a job, do some private tutoring, and spend more time on some non-math interests. Plan B is a realistic option, but I want to take it only after I'm sure that I've exhausted all my resources to continue studying Math.

I feel ya. I spent a lot of time exploring my non-math side this year, which I think has actually made me a stronger math student and overall person. Perspective can be very valuable. Good luck with your choices.

quark wrote:So far, I've only one acceptance which I'm torn about since it means moving away from family/dependents. My plan B is to try to get a job, do some private tutoring, and spend more time on some non-math interests. Plan B is a realistic option, but I want to take it only after I'm sure that I've exhausted all my resources to continue studying Math.

I feel ya. I spent a lot of time exploring my non-math side this year, which I think has actually made me a stronger math student and overall person. Perspective can be very valuable. Good luck with your choices.

Thank you and good luck to you too! I have met a fair amount of people who think that a good student is someone who prioritizes their academics over everything else. I don't think that is wrong or right; it just is something that I could never do because there are things that I love as much as I love Math and I've never felt the need to choose. As long as we (continue to) enjoy what we do, I think we're in good shape.

I was thinking the other day about setting up a group, in which we will try to read a book/do homework together. There are some chat rooms in math.stackexchange where people have done that (http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/2674/2012/3/2). I am having in mind some books that I want to read/do all the homework: Atiyah's Commutative AlgebraShafarevich Algebraic GeometryGerald J. Janusz : Algebraic Number FieldsAnyone wants to do that ?

longtm1989 wrote:I was thinking the other day about setting up a group, in which we will try to read a book/do homework together. There are some chat rooms in math.stackexchange where people have done that (http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/2674/2012/3/2). I am having in mind some books that I want to read/do all the homework: Atiyah's Commutative AlgebraShafarevich Algebraic GeometryGerald J. Janusz : Algebraic Number FieldsAnyone wants to do that ?

Sounds like a cool idea. I have a fantasy of creating a math consortium of rogues and rejects if things don't work out. I'll take you up on the Algebraic Geometry book. How does it work? do you get a chat room and then meet periodically to work through problems?

longtm1989 wrote:I was thinking the other day about setting up a group, in which we will try to read a book/do homework together. There are some chat rooms in math.stackexchange where people have done that (http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/2674/2012/3/2). I am having in mind some books that I want to read/do all the homework: Atiyah's Commutative AlgebraShafarevich Algebraic GeometryGerald J. Janusz : Algebraic Number FieldsAnyone wants to do that ?

Sounds like a cool idea. I have a fantasy of creating a math consortium of rogues and rejects if things don't work out. I'll take you up on the Algebraic Geometry book. How does it work? do you get a chat room and then meet periodically to work through problems?

longtm1989 wrote:I was thinking the other day about setting up a group, in which we will try to read a book/do homework together. There are some chat rooms in math.stackexchange where people have done that (http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/2674/2012/3/2). I am having in mind some books that I want to read/do all the homework: Atiyah's Commutative AlgebraShafarevich Algebraic GeometryGerald J. Janusz : Algebraic Number FieldsAnyone wants to do that ?

Sounds like a cool idea. I have a fantasy of creating a math consortium of rogues and rejects if things don't work out. I'll take you up on the Algebraic Geometry book. How does it work? do you get a chat room and then meet periodically to work through problems?

@ I PM you.

I am also interested in reading Alg Geom, have you considered Fulton ?

longtm1989 wrote:I was thinking the other day about setting up a group, in which we will try to read a book/do homework together. There are some chat rooms in math.stackexchange where people have done that (http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/2674/2012/3/2). I am having in mind some books that I want to read/do all the homework: Atiyah's Commutative AlgebraShafarevich Algebraic GeometryGerald J. Janusz : Algebraic Number FieldsAnyone wants to do that ?

Sounds like a cool idea. I have a fantasy of creating a math consortium of rogues and rejects if things don't work out. I'll take you up on the Algebraic Geometry book. How does it work? do you get a chat room and then meet periodically to work through problems?